What cleaning supplies do I actually need?

Tools:

Broom, mini-broom, and dustpan

Mop (get a real mop, not a Swiffer)

Vacuum (if you have carpet)

Microfiber cloths

Dish sponges

Scouring pad

Products:

All-purpose cleaner

Disinfecting/antibacterial cleaner

Mop fluid (Pine-Sol works for most mops)

Glass cleaner

Toilet-bowl cleaner

Shower/tub cleaner

Dish soap

Furniture cleaner/wood cleaner

Miscellaneous:

Trash bags (to fit all your trash cans), recycling bags

What do I need to do when?

Disclaimer: This is a suggestion. Feel free to modify it to your needs. I am both chronically ill and mentally ill, so I regularly modify my cleaning plans to be more accessible to me. Just do your best and it will work out :)

Multiple times a day:

Handwash dishes

Wipe kitchen counter with an all-purpose cleaner and microfiber cloth (immediately after cooking)

Wipe kitchen sink with a soapy sponge (immediately after washing dishes)

Rinse bathroom sink with water (immediately after brushing teeth)

Some people prefer to tidy up multiple times a day/as they go

Always disinfect your kitchen thoroughly using an antibacterial or disinfectant cleaner after cooking raw meat or fish to avoid foodborne illness.

Once a day:

Load/unload the dishwasher

Put away dishes

Wipe kitchen sink, counter, and stove with an all-purpose cleaner and a microfiber cloth

Clean bathroom sink and counter with an all-purpose cleaner (or even just soap)

Some people prefer to do one big tidy once a day

Make your bed and fix any pillows and blankets throughout the house

Replace your dirty towels and sponges

Check the mail

1-2 times a week:

Take out any trash that contains food waste or period waste

Clean your dining table using either glass or furniture/wood cleaner and a microfiber cloth

Disinfect your sink, counter, and stove using an antibacterial or disinfectant cleaner.

Fix any spaces that need to be organized, but get disorganized over time

Wipe your heavily-trafficked furniture with a microfiber cloth and use a cleaner on any surfaces you feel need it

Clean your floors (sweep, mop, and vacuum)

Clean your tub/shower and your toilet

Do laundry - the three categories I usually do are towels (kitchen and bathroom), sheets/blankets, and clothes, but you may have more or less categories

Water any plants you need to

Take out the trash/recycling

1-2 times a month:

Clean your appliances (mostly as needed, but don't let it get really bad or it will be so much harder to clean)

Clean out expired food from your fridge and pantry

Wash your shower curtain

Clean your shower drain so that it doesn't get clogged (you may need to do this more often if you have long hair)

Dust your less heavily-trafficked furniture with a microfiber cloth

Wipe your door handles and light switches with a disinfecting or antibacterial cleaner

Clean your garbage cans

Occasionally:

Change your air filter (if you have AC or heating)

Dust your non-furniture items such as ceiling fans and blinds

Clean your windows

ID: A series of screenshots from S/he, by Millie Bruce Pratt with text reading:

“But even as we traced how women’s liberation could be extended through these connections, these untanglings and re-braidings, we still had not fully explored sex and gender. There were unanswered questions, and questions that were never raised, about “manhood” and “womanhood.”

We carried with us many of the negative assumptions and values that the larger culture had assigned to woman, feminine, man, masculine–ideas that served to limit women’s behaviors and to prevent examination of how “masculinity” and “femininity” are not the basis of sex, race, and class oppression.

Often a lesbian considered “too butch” was assumed to be, at least in part, a male chauvinist. She might get thrown out of her lesbian collective for this, or refused admittance to a lesbian bar. Frequently a lesbian who was “too femme” was perceived as a woman who had not liberated her mind or her body. In ordinary arguments with a lesbian friend or lover, she could be dismissed–as I sometimes was–with,“You act just like a heterosexual woman." 

Yet during this same time, lesbians who were butch, femme, and all gender expressions in between were trying to decipher which of our behaviors still did reflect oppressive patterns learned in a woman-hating culture.

These struggles were present in 1982, in New York City, when an alliance of women with a range of sexualities had planned "The Scholar and the Feminist” annual conference as a way to examine the complex intersections of pleasure and danger in women’s sexuality and gender expression. They were condemned as “sexual deviants” and “sluts” by a group of women organizing against pornography, who identified themselves as “real feminists."“ END ID

Washer Fills With Water – How To Fix It?

I have a washing machine that fills with water. I was out of town and came home to water filling up in the washer. The water is leaking slowly, so I caught it in time. The washer is off and not in use and it still leaks water into the tub. I turned off the main water supply. Can you tell me what can cause water to leak from a washing machine? Fix a washer that fills with water A washing machine…